Same Crime, Different Time: Disparities in Judicial Outcomes for DWI Offenders
We examine disparities in judicial outcomes among people charged with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), a setting in which legal guilt is objectively determined by breath alcohol content (BrAC). Focusing on first-time offenders with no aggravating circumstances and BrAC above the legal threshold, we find that race, gender, and financial resources strongly predict the likelihood of incarceration and case dismissal. Defendants with greater socioeconomic advantage are more likely to access rehabilitative alternatives and avoid criminal records. We discuss how these outcome differences may reflect not only disparities in options offered by the court, but also in defendants’ choices among them.
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Copy CitationJeffrey T. Denning, Benjamin Hansen, Lars Lefgren, Emily C. Leslie, and Cody Tuttle, "Same Crime, Different Time: Disparities in Judicial Outcomes for DWI Offenders," NBER Working Paper 34425 (2025), https://doi.org/10.3386/w34425.
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